Doppelganger
by Jade Evangeline
Summary: As an entity from her life on the moon threatens to overtake and consume Serena, will her friends and family be able to fight for the girl that they love, or will she drown in her own darkness?
1. Prologue: Forty Minutes Past Midnight

Doppelganger

Prologue: Forty Minutes Past Midnight

A/N: I have a lot of extra time on my hands (clearly) so I am starting another story. This piece of fiction will definitely be darker than anything I have ever written before, but I am excited to get it going. The premise of this story is to explore the origins of Serena's father (as they never really talked about him, at least in the anime) and her destiny as a result of his actions. This is in fact a prologue and will set up for the rest of the story to take place. We will be encountering a very dark version of Serena in this story, so don't be surprised if she is a little out of character. Anyway, please review and let me know if you would be interested in me continuing.

Rating: M (for language, scenes of violence and non explicit sexual themes)

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.

* * *

She couldn't breathe; the overwhelming vestiges of sadness attacking her being, stealing whatever remnants of joy that remained in her life. Somehow, over the last six years, life had changed her; the bubbly personality of the pubescent blonde had all but faded. She couldn't recall the last time a smile graced her mouth and bringing her fingers to her lips, she wondered what it would feel like for them to contort into such a distinct and foreign position. Her back was stiff against the bed in her dormitory and a sudden bout of claustrophobia overwhelmed her as the small bedroom twisted and turned around her, the brass doorknobs akin to evil eyes, glowing like embers under an afternoon sun.

She needed to get out of this place.

Serena grabbed her jacket, her brooch falling onto the floor with a loud thump. She wondered why she even carried that thing around anymore. There hadn't been any enemies since her last battle, four years ago, and the twenty year old surmised that at this rate, she would never need to transform into Sailor Moon again. The world no longer needed a hero; the world no longer needed her. Her fingers dug painfully into the gold as she brought the brooch to her face, the paleness of her almost white skin contrasting with the bright yellow metal. She really needed to get more sunlight. Sammy had commented that she was starting to look like a vampire. She was starting to feel like one too.

It was a rare occasion for Serena to exit her dormitory. There was class, the occasional need to eat and maybe even a study session with a few of her fellow students from time to time, but apart from those few instances, her empty dorm room had in fact become her mausoleum. She tossed the brooch onto the empty bed parallel to her and watched as it bounced against the mattress before settling into a still circle of reflected light, the sallow color clashing against the dull blue fabric. Her roommate had moved out some time ago. She never really had a conversation with the girl. But her name was Lizzie and she had been a journalism major. Four months into the school year, shortly after the fall quarter had finished, Lizzie ended up on academic probation and her parents forced her to move home. Elizabeth's fate was no surprise to Serena though; that had been the outcome of many of her friends. Central Juban University was a party school after all, or at least, that was what her parents had told her.

She hadn't seen her mother and father in about three weeks, despite their constant insistence for her to come home. What would she come home to? Her annoying fifteen year old brother or her even more annoying twelve year old _cousin_? Rini had been there for four god awful years and her presence was probably the most buzz killing thing of all time. What did her parents need Serena for? They had a smaller, smarter, cuter version of her to watch grow up all over again. Serena had become _that_ girl; the daughter that went off to college, but rarely ever came home to visit and it was better that way.

Her pale fingers wrapped around the jean jacket that had dropped to the floor before putting it across her shoulders and emerging from the darkness of the shadowy desolate room. Her hand immediately rose to her face as the sunlight painfully skewed her line of vision. Quickly she reached into the back pocket of her demin jeans and forced a pair of cheap sunglasses onto her face. She had no direction today and walked the path that led to nothingness. Previously, during a similar spell of loneliness and boredom, she had ended up in a pet cemetery about an hour outside of town and had to take the bus back to her campus. This time she walked in the opposite direction, letting her feet lead her down the windy concrete roads of central Juban.

She had finally arrived to a familiar sight just as the sun began to set and the chilly winter air blew gusts of cold against her. She pulled open the doors of the Crown Arcade, and ushered herself inside, the warmth of the furnace immediately heating her chilly bones. Ignoring the commotion of the crowd in the corner, she walked to the wooden counter, shiny from a recent polish and glared at the menu thoughtfully.

"Hey, long time no see," said Andrew, approaching her and leaning on his elbows to look at her. As always, she looked tired. "What can I get you?"

She shrugged. "A coke would be nice."

"A coke? What happened to your obsession with chocolate shakes? With all this low carb crap going on, I don't even get to make them and you rarely come around anymore. I swear, I've never had this many salads on the menu before."

She smiled at his rambling. This was probably the longest conversation Serena had with a human being in the last seven days. "Thanks Andrew but I'm not in the mood for a shake. It's too heavy."

"Maybe, next time," he said, scribbling her order down onto a piece of paper and handing a carbon copy to her.

"Everybody's here, you know," said Andrew, eyeing a large group in the corner of the dining room. "They're waiting for the arcade to close; we're all going to study here. You should stay."

Serena shrugged but didn't verbally respond. Instead she mounted herself onto a comfortable stool and swiveled around to see what Andrew was referring to. Her gaze immediately fell to her boyfriend sitting in a plush booth, his raven hair falling into his eyes, his gaze on the girl next to him who was apparently telling him a very amusing story that she couldn't quite hear from where she was sitting. That girl was _Ai_ and Serena hated her. It was common knowledge that Ai was after Darien and it was an obvious fact to everyone but him. Serena had asked Darien to stop hanging around her for that exact reason and he had consistently tried to argue that Ai didn't have romantic feelings for him and that even if she did, Darien only had eyes for Serena.

This is the reason that they were currently not speaking. Or at least the reason that Serena wasn't speaking to him.

She watched the emotions play on his face as they changed from concentration, to amusement and finally to surprise when he realized that she was sitting in the middle of an empty row of seats staring at him with an intensely sour expression on her face. He said something to his friends who turned their attention toward her. Some of the people in his group she didn't know, but some of the faces were all too familiar, as they belonged to her childhood friends and fellow former Senshi: Raye, Mina, Ami and Lita.

Serena remained seated in her chair as Darien rose from the booth and walked toward her, his hands shoved deeply into the dark rinse jeans covering his legs and lower torso. "I didn't expect to see you here," he said honestly looking into her face. He didn't lean down to kiss her as he was fully aware of her anger towards him and figured that her jealously was something she would have to control on her own.

"I was bored," she said tiredly. "Having fun?"

"If you consider studying fun then sure, we're having loads of it," he said, sitting beside her. "You should come sit with us. I know you have reading to do too."

"That's okay."

Darien sighed. "If you came around more often, then this alleged fixation that Ai has with me would probably go away if she saw us together more often."

"Well if she wasn't such a bitch to me when I did come around then I wouldn't have a problem hanging around with you and _your_ friends."

"They're your friends too Serena. Since when did you and the girls stop hanging out?"

"Since we got accepted into rival schools."

Darien cocked an eyebrow but provided no rebut. "Come on," he said, his fingers sliding against hers before tugging her toward him.

"I told you I don't want to."

"What else are you going to do then? Go bury yourself in your dorm room?"

She yanked her hand from his grip. "What else do I have to do? Your friends and that evil school you go to have corrupted my friends and turned them against me and you're busy every night of the week. Not that I'm blaming you, being in medical school and all but I haven't been alone with you in over a month."

Darien sighed apologetically. She was right, he was always busy with rounds, medical conferences and studying for oral examinations that doctors liked to spring on medical students during their time at the hospital. "By June, I'll be done with school and all of this will be over."

She scoffed. "And then you have twelve hour shifts to look forward to."

"Things will be different by then," he said, "trust me, Serena."

She said nothing and allowed him to steer her in the direction of the table that was populated by at least twelve people, all of their ages varying greatly in number.

"Hey, Serena," said Mina cheerfully as the walking blonde approach. "How's it going?"

Serena shrugged an answer. Darien was standing behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist which Serena concluded was his poor attempt at showing Ai who exactly he belonged to.

"So have you thought about transferring?" asked Lita, patting the empty seat beside her.

"No," Serena responded ignoring her friends attempt to make peace with her.

She was still livid over the recent fight the five of them had.

"You're not still mad are you? God, Serena get over it, it was just a jacket and Darien bought you another one," cried Raye, shoving a fry into her mouth and glaring at their blonde friend.

"It's the principal of the matter now," Serena, rebutted, clearly annoyed.

"You really should consider transferring to Azabu Tech, you know. Who wants a degree from Juban, anyway? And just because your grades and test scores weren't good enough t get in last time doesn't mean you should be afraid to reapply," said Ai, brushing her long bangs out of her face and behind her ear. Serena surveyed the brunette and even despite her envy, couldn't deny that Ai was in fact, very beautiful. Her brown, almost black hair, dangled past her waist in a cascade of midnight satin. Her eyes were large and a deep green and her skin was blemish free and just as perfect as she was.

"Take care," said Serena before enveloping herself in her jacket and rushing from the arcade, the voices of the group beckoning her return echoing in her ears as she hurried down the dark streets of Tokyo's underworld.

* * *

It was times like these when Serena thought something truly _was _wrong with her. She had been moody lately and it took almost nothing to irritate her, but sometimes her fits of anger were so strong that she wondered what inner turmoil was really wreaking such havoc on her soul. Tonight she was having another moment, where the sky seemed darker than it was and noise from the room above filled her with so much fury that she wanted to march right up there and snap her neighbors neck in half. And then there those truly scary times, when her flesh itched and burned so severely, that she became convinced that her skin was not her own. Sometimes, especially lately, she swore she could hear things in the darkest hour of the night that others could not. Sometimes, even the innocuous shadows on the wall seemed more sinister, as if they were waiting for her to let her guard down, for her to show that occasional moment of weakness and self doubt. The clock said it was forty minutes past midnight, but Serena felt as though she were in a time all her own, where reality ended and nightmares began. She wanted to think that it was from lack of sleep, she wanted to hope that it was because she took too many sleeping pills and forced herself into an accidental coma. But the fact was these times, where even the prospect of an eternity in hell didn't seem as scary, made her realize that what she was experiencing was no hallucination of another world, but was in fact, something so real that fear was manifesting itself into every aspect of her existence. Nights like these, she was afraid to open her eyes, nights like these where the silence in her ears drowned out even the loudest of sounds, were when she knew something bigger than herself was taking over her body.

She reached for the lamp, the brightness of the bulb chasing some of the ghosts away as it fought back the darkness of night. The air was stagnant and her palms were sweaty and despite her shaky stance, she forced herself to hobble towards the bathroom, her balance faltering as she tripped over socks and lonely shoes. She reached for the light and immediately went for the sink, her trembling fingers turning the faucet knobs until clear water shot from the spout. The liquid was pristine and warm and she felt a sudden calmness overwhelm her as the water splashed and seeped through her fingertips, dripping into the porcelain sink and cascading into the drain below. As she bent over, she plashed the water in her face, the liquid burning when it touched her bare pupils but nonetheless soothing against her hot, itchy skin. She squinted her eyes and waited as the labored breaths subsided, waited as her painful heartbeat slowed to a normal pace, waited for the ringing in her ears to cease .She reached out toward the sink, her fingers frolicking over the molded steel until a sight in the mirror caught her eye. Her eyes shot up to meet the chilling glare of black eyes that were not hers and as she stared into the mirror she suddenly realized that the face staring back at her behind the glass, was not her own.


	2. Chapter 1: Possession

Chapter 2

Possession

A/N: So…this fic is kind of dark as you can tell from the following chapter. Let me know if you guys are still interested. Please Review.

Rating: M (this chapter for language, sexual themes and mild implied torture)

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon

* * *

Her voice caught in her throat and for a moment, she thought she would retch violently onto the bathroom floor. Every instinct, every memory that consumed her mind of her days as a warrior had vanished. She was alone in her bathroom, in the midnight hours staring at someone in the mirror that looked exactly like her, but wasn't. Even in her mind that made no sense, but the specter, her observant twin remained still in the glassy reflection, a look of satisfaction and surprise on her face.

Serena wanted to scream, to cry for help, to do anything but stand there with her mouth agape staring at her ghostly double. Her body was screaming at her to run, to leave the room, to open the door and let the rays of early dawn crush the darkness from her mind, but here she sat, standing her ground, staring into the bleakness of terror and overwhelming insanity. Instead of fleeing, she looked pensively at the visitor and felt a strange connection to the girl staring back her from behind the transparent illusion. Deep inside the depths of her inner mind, she felt as though the girl truly meant her no harm; that if she were going to attack, then her violent outburst of towering force should have already come. She would have been kneeling against the bathroom floor in overwhelming submission, fighting for her life to survive.

Serena tensed when the girl moved, blinked, smiled on her own accord, but the fear that had overtaken her minutes ago was gone, only to be replaced with strong resolution. She felt a calmness overtake her, and for the first time in years, felt an otherworldly strength flow through her body. She hadn't felt this good since she had transformed into Super Sailor Moon, she hadn't felt this much power since…never. She had never encountered a fire so great, it was a bursting inferno of unrelenting force, heavy and unyielding, and it was permeating every muscle, every vein. It seemed as though her blood was pumping bouts of strange energy and that some unknown force was budding deep inside of her. And when her vision blurred and her knees weakened she grimaced as the silent figure raised a finger to her lips and made a motion that filled Serena with a tranquility that she had never felt before. Her eyes were suddenly tired and her muscles limp, she slouched against the wall, her lidded eyes drooping as she fell into a restful slumber. And as the final throes of consciousness fled from her being, she vaguely remembered something that she would never forget, even after an eternity; the shadow of the uninvited breaking the bonds of the of her other worldly chains, freeing herself from the manacles of the translucent glass and coming straight for her.

* * *

Serena vaguely recalled how she got here. She knew exactly where she was; it was a room she had seen many times before. How could she, after all, forget the house in which she grew up? It was the domicile that held so many memories, both great and small. Yet here she was, with no recollection of her travel, no confirming voice on the other end beckoning her presence, no exchange of words. Somehow, she had managed to find herself sitting at the dining room table of her mother's home, watching as her family and friends chatted animatedly about the events of their trivial lives.

"I can't believe you won Rini," cried Mina, twirling long strands of pasta around her fork. "I mean we all knew you would do well, but it's not that often that someone we know wins the biggest spelling bee in the district."

Rini blushed a deep red, the rosiness of her cheeks contrasting with the light, youthful pink strands of her strawberry blonde hair. "I was surprised too, but Mama and I studied really hard and Sammy helped too," said Rini, fingering the white gold necklace around her neck and smiling brightly across to _her_ mother.

"Well we're _all _very proud of you," said Ken, grinning at his niece. "Aren't we Serena?"

The blonde blinked at the mention of her name. _What were they talking about?_ "I…yeah…" said Serena vaguely, forking the lone potato on her plate. She didn't even remember eating anything.

"You're not still mad at me for ruining your coat are you?" asked Rini, who seemed sincerely sorry about the accident that occurred several days ago.

Coat…Now she remembered why she pissed off at everyone. Rini had spilled pomegranate juice on a _very_ expensive coat and somehow Serena was the one who ended up in trouble because she was the one who was yelling. Raye and her friends had all taken Rini's side and argued that Serena was being selfish and materialistic.

They always seemed to be villanizing her. Even when she was the victim.

Her expression soured. "What does it matter?" asked Serena, sighing and pushing her plate away. Whatever appetite she might have had, she suddenly lost it.

"It matters now because your cousin asked you a question, Serena. I don't see what the big issue is. Darien bought you another coat. You should be able to forgive your cousin and forget."

Serena chuckled to herself. It wasn't about the fucking coat. It was about a lot of things, different things that they didn't understand, that they could never understand. When exactly she had lost touch with her parents, her friends, she couldn't say. There was a lot of shit that she knew about herself that they either didn't remember, or didn't care to bring up. She was supposed to be the fucking _messiah_, how the hell was she supposed to feel about?

She was the messiah and she was seeing ghosts in her bathroom and losing moments in time. She was losing her god damn fucking mind and they were asking her about some god damn coat and if she forgave Rini and it all seemed so trivial. They were so insignificant in the scheme things, bags of flesh with no foresight of the future and no knowledge of her past.

She didn't have time for this; she was tired and pissy and confused as hell and the way everyone was staring at her was sending her over the edge. She got up briefly before walking to the living room to collect her things.

"Serena, sit back down," said Irene, tiredness in her voice. She was getting fed up with her daughter's mood swings.

"I'm really not in the mood to fight with any of you today," Serena said honestly. She just wanted to leave, to curl up in the comfort of her bed and sleep her worries away. Grabbing her purse and keys, she felt a tug on her elbow and her eyes locked on the worried orbs of her lover.

"Talk to me," he said, pleadingly. Something was wrong with her and he knew it. There had been…something… hovering over her for the past month.

She looked at him quietly. What did he exactly expect her to say? That she was scared, that _something_ was consuming every aspect of her purity, her strength…that she was dying on the inside, that everything that he loved about her was slowly fading away.

"I…you wouldn't understand." What was the point of troubling him with something even she didn't understand herself?

"Then help me to." He was being honest and sincere and all she wanted him to do was gather her in his arms and hold her until the fear subsided, until whatever was haunting her was driven away by his unyielding love.

"Just…take me home with you."

* * *

Her hands were tangling in his hair and she was straddling his hips. Taking her home to talk with him suddenly meant their sweaty, needy bodies together writhing on his couch as he undressed. He had only wanted to talk, but Serena seemed to have other things on her mind. He wasn't sure if she was seducing him to get out of a conversation or because of her want for him, but it had been so long since they had last made love and he was yearning to feel her close around him as he pressed himself inside of her.

"It's been so long," she whispered huskily, as he suckled the taut skin of her neck, eliciting gentle moans from her lips. "It's been so long since you've touched me." _Too long._

He didn't respond. She was right though. It had been too long. Choices and responsibilities had gotten in the way; he had been too obsessed with reaching the ultimate goal: a doctor, the prestige, the success, the glory. He had lost sight of what truly mattered most to him.

He lifted her, her legs wrapping around his waist as she grounded her bare pelvis against his tented jeans and he groaned. It felt so good to be so close to her, to share with her something so precious and personal.

He guided her down a knowing path; they had taken this walk together to his bedroom many times before and every time it felt new and exciting and filled her with an overwhelming longing to be one with him. He pressed open the door and laid her on the bed gently, removing his pants and covering her with his warmth. His hands were searching, squeezing and rubbing, exploring her body with fervent appreciation and desire. She hadn't been his first, but she might as well been. She had truly been the only woman he had ever loved.

He entered her swiftly, moaning in appreciation as she tightened and relaxed around him. His movements were hard and rough and what they were doing could hardly be called lovemaking. He was fucking her hard and fast and that was okay, that had been what she wanted in the first place.

He was pushing into her so violently, with such unadulterated force that she was caught off guard by her first orgasm and even more so when he flipped her over so that she was on top. There connection was never broken and she never took her eyes off of him as she rode him hard. All the while he dug his fingers painfully into her hips, sporadic traces of lust and pleasure washing over his otherwise stoic face. He was getting close and he could feel it and she was bouncing on him like a fucking mad woman and she was tight and wet and staring down at him with a look in her eyes that he had never seen before and he liked it. He felt that familiar feeling of tightening in his gut and knew he was close and he grabbed her by the neck and started meeting her movements with thrust s of his own. There was so much strength behind his hips that he was reaching inside of her to place he rarely touched and for a moment he feared that he might have been hurting her until she cried his name and tightened around him and he expelled himself with a jolting stream of vigor, all the while grunting as she cried his name.

She collapsed beside him, and the silence of the room was filled with appreciative pants of lovers satisfied. He reached out and touched her, the warm dampness of her back coating his fingertips.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said, opening her eyes to see a concerned look on his face. She smiled reassuringly as he leaned over and kissed her temple. He grabbed her gently, rearranging their bodies so that her head was resting on his slick chest. She lay their quietly, listening as the fierce thumping of his heart reverted back to a steady beat. He was drawing circles with his fingertips on her back and her muscles were aching. She vaguely heard him whisper something in her ear as she drifted off into a light sleep, darkness flooding her eyelids.

_There was blood on her face; it was dark and thick and sweet tasting. She could feel the warm liquid seep into her mouth and it felt like sugary ambrosia against her tongue. The brunette beneath her was lying silently on the grassy knoll, the green fauna stained with splashes of red, fresh and wet against the surface. She hadn't expected there to be so much blood and there wouldn't have been the need to bleed her dry if she had only kept still. It could have been quick and painless and relatively easy if she wasn't bent on fighting back. Survival was overrated; if she would have just succumbed, she wouldn't have been bleeding and shuddering violently on the ground before her._

You know what you must do.

_Of course she knew, it was second nature, a blood sacrifice and all…and her blood, well it was just as pretty as she was. Such as shame to let something so beautiful go to waste. But it had to be done, for the greater good. Little did the sobbing brunette know that her sacrifice would usher in a new world unlike any other these humans had ever seen._

_They had been hiding, forced to live in a land of shadows, a hell like world filled with cries of agony and nightmarish creatures. It was a time for change and with her blood, the blood of an innocent would the veil that guarded the Otherworld from entering this world to be shattered and their souls set free. A blood sacrifice by the hands of a righteous woman; by the messiah herself._

_She let the knife rub against the face of the brunette who lay there, muttering and crying and begging for mercy. The sky would grow dark for her soon enough and she would have her peace. Until then, it was time for suffering, and the blood stained metal would show the girl a new form of pain until death was on the horizon and the morning rays of sunlight would usher in a new era, the new beginnings of a world unseen._


End file.
